I’ve tried 50 tooth blades before and I don’t think they are as good as a 40 tooth blade at either ripping or crosscuts. They usually leave a near flat bottom groove due to the raker, if that matters to you.

Woodworking techniques are of course a personal preference. My preference even though it can be a pain to change them often is to have dedicated blades. I have a 80 tooth freud for plywood, a 40 tooth forrest ww2, and a freud rip blade that I absolutely love. The rip blade just ate through the 8/4 maple I threw at it. I have never used a 50 tooth blade but I like freud a lot so I would recommend a 40 tooth freud.

So i was all set to get the Frued because i ve used them in the past and liked them but now i m leaning toward the Irwin after reading this review. Just got to decide between 40 or 50 tooth

- Notw

I’ve done quite a bit of cutting and testing on several 40T and 50T blades. Most of those 40T blades were top shelf models like the Super General, WWII, Gold Medal, TS2000, Freud Premier, CMT, etc., but have also given the Freud LU86 and very similar Diablo D1040 40T, as well as the LU84 50T and similar D1050x a good run. All of the previously mentioned top shelf premium blades have very tight side clearances to give the cut a high degree of polish. All of those blades will also leave a slightly shinier edge than any of the 50T ABT/R or less expensive 40T blades I’ve used. The D1040x or the Marples equivalent don’t feature the tight side clearances that the premium 40T blades offer, meaning there’s not a ton of notable difference between the 40T and 50T blades at this price point. Either should be fine, so if you had your heart set on a 50T, don’t sweat the difference. They’re all really good performance at great prices. The upside to not having the tight side clearances is less tendency to burn, and less fussiness in general about the setup.

Joe’s review is very good and quite compelling for the Marples. Keep in mind that most blade comparisons involve a sample size of 1 of each type, which means variability likely becomes part of the equation….not every blade is perfectly representative of the whole population, but it’s usually just not feasible to try multiples of same models to rule out that variability.

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